


Dorothea's Guide to Charming Young Nobles

by MissMorphine



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Dorothea finding increasingly more contrived ways to force Felix and Sylvain together, Dorothea/Petra is already established, M/M, gratuitous embarrassment of Felix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 02:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20302282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMorphine/pseuds/MissMorphine
Summary: When Dorothea figures out that Felix had been hostile toward her due to jealousy over Sylvain flirting with her, she decides it's her duty to get Felix and Sylvain together.Shenanigans ensue.





	Dorothea's Guide to Charming Young Nobles

**Author's Note:**

> I'll admit that I don't often post silly things (I'm usually more of all of the feels kind of writer), but I really liked the idea of Felix being jealous of Dorothea because Sylvain is flirting with her. So I wouldn't go into this taking it too seriously. It's a fic just for fun~

Dorothea was fuming. How dare Felix treat her so discourteously? Just because she was a commoner looking to rise above her station did not mean that Felix had the right to criticize her for that. The nerve he had to suggest that she wasn’t welcome with the Blue Lions and that she should stick to speaking with her peers in the Black Eagles!

One Blue Lion, however, definitely had the opposite opinion of Felix. Dorothea was in no mood for Sylvain’s antics after the dreadful conversation she’d just had with Felix. In fact, she chanced a look over at Felix and saw him glaring even more fiercely at her than before. She hadn’t even interacted with him since he demanded that she leave the training grounds, so she hadn’t even had the opportunity to bother him again. She was about to stomp over to him and ask what his problem was when she realized the one difference between then and now.

Sylvain.

She looked back at Sylvain curiously. He hadn’t seemed to notice Felix’s intense glare directed at the both of them. Mentally looking back, Dorothea realized that Felix’s standoffish behavior started just after Sylvain started flirting with her. Curious to test her theory, Dorothea made sure that Felix was watching as she popped the top button of her shirt open before leaning closer to Sylvain.

Felix snapped his quill in half.

Dorothea held back the smirk that was threatening to pull up the corners of her lips. A tale of unrequited love and misunderstandings, it was the perfect plot to an opera. Perhaps she would write their love story one day, but first, Dorothea decided, she needed to ensure that Felix and Sylvain got together. After all, Felix couldn’t hate her anymore if the object of his affections was dating him instead of flirting with her.

Dorothea ran out of the classroom once the professor ended class and pulled Petra to the side, hiding them both in a small alcove between classrooms. Petra stared quizzically at her girlfriend, who was nearly bouncing with excitement.

“I’ve got it, Petra!” whispered Dorothea. She’d figured out everything, and she couldn’t wait to get started.

“What is it that you are having?” asked Petra, confused as she looked at Dorothea’s empty hands. Dorothea smiled fondly before shaking herself out of it; this was no time to get distracted by how adorable her girlfriend was.

“Felix!” Petra just looked even more confused. “I know why he’s been so awful to me. He’s got a crush on Sylvain, and he’s jealous that Sylvain has been flirting with me.”

“So, you are saying that Felix is wanting to crush Sylvain?” Petra asked. “Felix is not needing help to win against Sylvain, but I can be helping with his training.”

“Oh, goddess, Petra no,” exclaimed Dorothea. “Having a crush means you like someone, romantically of course.” Petra nodded, the realization dawning on her features. Finally on the same page, Dorothea launched into explaining her plan to get Felix and Sylvain to start dating -- thus eliminating Felix’s hostility toward Dorothea and Sylvain’s painfully unsuccessful flirting.

“Are you having certainty that Felix will not be angry with this plan?” Petra’s tone was thoughtful. It was the tone she used whenever she was questioning one of Dorothea’s ideas. However, Dorothea wasn’t paying too much attention to Petra’s logical concerns. She was already lost in planning the first phase of her plan.

Dorothea needed to confirm that Felix had feelings for Sylvain. One observation -- a very astute observation, if she did say so herself -- was not enough to go on. She needed to make sure that Felix really was interested in Sylvain before putting the effort into getting them together.

And she had just the idea for how to confirm it.

* * *

Dorothea was sick of going to the training grounds. She had come with Petra every day to see if Felix and Sylvain were training together, and although she had seen Felix there multiple times, Sylvain had not been there once. Dorothea’s arms were sore from all the training -- at Petra’s insistence, as she believed it would be wasteful to go to the training grounds and not spend time training.

Dorothea was about to call it a day and see if she could convince Petra to come back to her room to rub her shoulders when she saw a shock of red hair following Felix. Suddenly renewed, Dorothea waited for the two boys to start sparring before calculating her next move.

“Hey Petra,” started Dorothea, “do warriors in Brigid practice hand-to-hand combat?” Dorothea made sure her voice was loud enough to be heard by Felix and Sylvain. Petra smiled and nodded, excited to talk about her home country.

“Oh yes!” Petra said cheerily. “Warriors of Brigid are often practicing their grappling. You must be knowing how to fight without a weapon if your weapon is damaged.” Dorothea caught Felix pause in his spar with Sylvain, and she knew he was listening in on their conversation. The brunette replied loftily that she didn’t expect anyone at the training grounds to understand how to grapple properly, and she would have to wait until someone with adequate skills showed up.

The taunt worked. Felix growled at Sylvain that he wanted to fight without weapons and was already putting his practice sword away. Dorothea smiled and leaned on Petra’s shoulder as they watched the two males spar. Felix clearly had the upper hand, and it didn’t take long until Sylvain was on the ground underneath Felix.

“Oh, that’s not fair,” commented Dorothea. “Sylvain was clearly restricted by how tight his shirt is. How can he stand a chance at winning if his shoulders can’t move?” She thanked the goddess as Petra chimed in that they would both have better movement if they were not wearing restrictive clothing. Dorothea watched carefully as Sylvain shrugged off both his jacket and the shirt underneath. Objectively speaking, she had to admit that he had very nice muscles. The professor had started an axe regimen for Sylvain, and swinging around a heavy axe was clearly doing something good for Sylvain’s body.

Dorothea was more interested, however, in Felix’s reaction to Sylvain taking off his shirt. Had she not been watching Felix so closely, she wouldn’t have caught the way his eyes followed Sylvain’s movements. The flush on his face could have been attributed to exercise, but Dorothea knew that the redness on Felix’s face had not been there before.

Petra called for a second round of sparring, and Sylvain fared significantly better on the second round. Felix’s shoulders were pinned to the ground by Sylvain, and Dorothea swore that it was because Felix had been too distracted to fight properly. Petra clapped her hands together and called for Sylvain as the winner of the second round. She went over to the boys and excitedly began telling them about grappling techniques in Brigid. As Petra began guiding the two boys through techniques she knew from Brigid, Dorothea couldn’t fault her girlfriend for interrupting the moment in her excitement. After all, Dorothea had already gotten all the information that she needed.

Felix _clearly_ had a crush on Sylvain.

* * *

After confirming that Felix had feelings for Sylvain, Dorothea was stumped for what she should do next. She knew that Felix was far too wary of her to trust anything she planned. No, it would have to be spontaneous. She would have to wait for the right moment and then think on her feet when it arrived.

The right moment arrived in the form of Sylvain whining that girls weren’t falling for him the way they used to. Dorothea had overheard Sylvain complaining that girls were telling him that his lines were insincere. Professor Byleth was late to class -- to be honest, she was probably out fishing -- which meant that the students were left to their own devices until she arrived. Finally, Dorothea had her moment.

Sylvain was still moping at the desk he shared with Felix when Dorothea approached them. She took a chair from the desk in front of theirs and spun it around to face them. Felix glared -- which was still unfortunately typical behavior for him -- and Sylvain was lost in his misery until Dorothea suggested that she could help him with his love problems.

“Clearly your problem is that girls figure out you’re insincere when you feed them all the same lines,” explained Dorothea. “You must have figured out by now that these girls talk to each other, and they’ll tell their friends what you’ve been telling them.” Dorothea sighed as she saw Sylvain’s genuinely shocked expression. Of course he didn’t realize that he was hopelessly unoriginal.

“So I should compliment them differently?” asked Sylvain. When Dorothea nodded, Sylvain turned his eyes to her and began to say something to the effect of how beautiful she was, but Dorothea shoved her hand in Sylvain’s face and groaned.

“Not me, you fool!” Dorothea rolled her eyes, exasperated. “How am I supposed to observe how successful you are if you’re trying your lines on me? Besides, Petra will take her axe to you if you tried flirting with me.” At the mention of her name, Petra nodded menacingly. Sylvain waved weakly in reply.

“How about…” Dorothea pretended to look around before zeroing in on Felix. “Felix. Why don’t you try complimenting Felix?” She smiled innocently, as if she hadn’t been planning this from the moment Sylvain burst through the doors.

“Absolutely not,” growled Felix, not even looking up from his desk. “I will not be part of these ridiculous antics.” Dorothea was unperturbed; she was expecting Felix to refuse.

“What if Sylvain does an extra hour of training with you every day in exchange?” Dorothea asked. Sylvain looked horrified at the idea, but Felix looked to be considering it. Felix acquiesced, but only with the guarantee that he would be allowed to hunt Sylvain down and drag him to the training grounds if he tried to skip training. Happy to agree on Sylvain’s behalf, Dorothea extended her hand to shake on it.

“Wait, I never agreed to any of this!” complained Sylvain. Dorothea was tempted to ignore him.

“You said that you wanted advice for how to better pick up girls,” Dorothea said. “I’m giving you advice. Now, unless there’s a particular reason you can’t compliment Felix…?” Dorothea trailed off expectantly. She was certain that she caught a hint of a blush on Sylvain’s face as he turned to face Felix.

“You, uh,” Sylvain stammered. “You fight good.” Dorothea audibly groaned. How could he actually be this hopeless?

“That wasn’t even proper grammar, Sylvain,” commented Felix dryly. “I can see why no girls want to go out with you.” Sylvain bristled, and Dorothea bit back a laugh. She raised an eyebrow at the redhead, as if to ask if he was going to accept that. She even giggled to further the idea that Felix was taunting him. Accepting the challenge, Sylvain reached out and gently tilted Felix’s chin upwards to lock their eyes together.

“Your grace on the battlefield is unparalleled,” Sylvain murmured as he leaned in closer. “Of course, your prowess on the battlefield is only matched by your beauty. I would love to take you out for tea, just you and I together, because I think we could have something special.” Felix jumped away from Sylvain, startling the rest of the students. Red faced and embarrassed, Felix was pointedly avoiding both Dorothea’s and Sylvain’s eyes.

“I’m done with this childish game,” Felix bit out. He stalked out of the room, and Dorothea felt her heart sink in her chest. Perhaps…she had gone a bit too far. She sighed and turned her chair around, leaving Sylvain looking impossibly confused at what had just transpired.

* * *

A harsh knock sounded at Dorothea’s door. She called out for the visitor to come in, and she wasn’t wholly surprised to see Felix standing in her doorway after the debacle of that afternoon. He looked furious, and she also wasn’t surprised to see that. She supposed that she deserved it after all of her very unsuccessful meddling.

“Are you trying to humiliate me?” asked Felix. “Is this revenge for how I treated you before?” Dorothea’s eyes widened in shock. Of all things she was expecting Felix to say, that wasn’t one of them.

“Felix, no,” started Dorothea. “I am so sorry. I had no intentions to humiliate you. I…” She sighed, knowing it was time to come clean. She would have to tell Petra later that she’d been right the entire time. At least her girlfriend would be gracious about it. “I was trying to get you and Sylvain together.” Felix stared at Dorothea in horror before looking out into the open hallway and then slamming the door shut.

“What are you saying?” asked Felix urgently.

“I know that you have feelings for him,” Dorothea placated. Felix was turning an odd shade of red, and Dorothea wasn’t sure if it was due to anger or mortification. Or both. It was probably both, she reflected.

“How?” Felix looked almost panicked.

“I realized that you were hostile toward me, well, more hostile than usual if I’m being honest, after Sylvain started flirting with me.” The pieces clicked into Dorothea’s head; Felix didn’t want Sylvain to know about his feelings. Guilt washed over her at having crossed a boundary so carelessly. “He doesn’t know anything though. I didn’t tell him, and I doubt he’s figured anything out. I’m…so sorry, Felix. This wasn’t my place to meddle, and I am fully prepared to take all responsibility for this. Just…know that your secret is safe with me.”

Felix’s glare slowly subsided, and he sighed. Putting his hand to his temple, he shook his head. “I’m in love with Sylvain.” The admission shocked Dorothea, and her shock must have shown on her face because of the annoyed look Felix gave her. “What?”

“Nothing!” exclaimed Dorothea. “I just didn’t expect you to say it out loud so easily.” Felix scowled, but the redness on his cheeks lessened the effect.

“It was…nice to be able to say it out loud,” Felix muttered. “Don’t expect me to do it again. And don’t expect that this means that I’ve forgiven you for this. In exchange for all this trouble, you’ll be my training partner.” Dorothea nodded vigorously, grateful that he was willing to extend an olive branch.

Dorothea opened the door for Felix and grasped his arm gently as she gave him another apology. Beyond the door, neither Dorothea nor Felix noticed Sylvain watching the scene in front of him with wide eyes. He was gone before Felix knocked Dorothea’s hand away and told her to meet him at the training grounds at dawn.

As Dorothea shut her door and collapsed on her bed, she realized that she hadn’t asked Felix how long he expected her to be his training partner. She would probably be stuck waking up at dawn every day until he wasn’t angry at her anymore…which meant that she’d be waking up at dawn for the foreseeable future. She groaned into her pillow and thought about going over to Petra’s room for comfort. Maybe she’d be able to get that shoulder rub after all.

* * *

The wooden sword clattered to the ground again, and Dorothea resisted the urge to scowl. She was starting to think that Felix was looking less for a training partner and more of a target. She had woken up at dawn every day this week, and she was exhausted. The only comfort she had was that the professor had commented on how her sword fighting had improved.

She reluctantly picked the sword back up and moved back into a fighting stance. Her strength was in magic, not swords. One of these days, Dorothea was going to challenge Felix to a duel with tomes to see how he liked losing. Dorothea was about to lunge at Felix when she saw Sylvain heading toward the training grounds. She hastily hung up her training sword, leaving Felix bewildered until he saw Sylvain approach.

Felix gave Dorothea a murderous look as she commented that she had to leave and hurried out of the training grounds. Although she hadn’t engineered this particular situation, she was certain that Felix would never forgive her if this didn’t end well. Praying to the goddess above, she stopped just outside the doors, still in earshot but out of sight. Sylvain picked up the training sword that Dorothea had just hung up and offered to spar with Felix. Felix, to his credit, managed to keep his expression neutral -- as if he hadn’t spent a week avoiding Sylvain -- as he agreed.

Wooden swords clacked together. For a lance and axe user, Sylvain wasn’t doing terribly with a sword. Although, Dorothea thought, he probably did have extensive sword training as a child like most nobles did. Distracted by thoughts of how different her upbringing was, Dorothea almost missed Felix knocking the sword out of Sylvain’s hand. Both males were flushed and breathing heavily.

“Yield.” Felix’s voice was gruff. He stepped closer to Sylvain, the sword still pointed at the other boy’s chest. Instead of yielding, however, Sylvain pushed Felix’s sword hand away before he reached forward and grasped the back of Felix’s head to draw him closer. Dorothea’s jaw went slack as she watched Sylvain crush his lips against Felix’s. The sword dropped from Felix’s hand and fell to the ground with a dull clatter. His arms reached up to wrap around Sylvain’s neck, and he pulled himself closer to the other boy’s broad chest.

They kissed the way they fought, frenetic and passionate. Sylvain trailed kisses down the length of Felix’s throat, and Felix’s hands grasped at the back of Sylvain’s jacket. Sylvain whispered something in Felix’s ear that Dorothea couldn’t hear, but she could gather from the fond smile on Felix’s face that it was something unexpectedly sincere. Felix pulled Sylvain back into another kiss, this one softer than the first.

Feeling like she would be intruding if she stayed any longer, Dorothea strolled away from the training grounds with a sense of accomplishment. The next day, Dorothea would see Sylvain holding Felix’s hand on the way to classes. When she saw the hint of a smile on Felix’s face as he looked over at Sylvain while the redhead was chattering away, she couldn’t help but give them a smile of her own.

Perhaps her plan hadn’t been too bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Q&A That No One Asked For
> 
> Q: When did Sylvain realize he had feelings for Felix?  
A: Probably sometime after the pretend flirting in the classroom. Definitely by the time he saw Felix leaving Dorothea's room and was jealous himself over it.
> 
> Q: What did Sylvain whisper in Felix's ear that she couldn't hear?  
A: Something like how he wasn't pretending to flirt with him this time and that he wants to take Felix out on a proper date.
> 
> Q: Did Felix forgive Dorothea for meddling in his business?  
A: Yes, but it definitely was helped by the fact that he and Sylvain did start dating. His anger stemmed from the fact that he didn't believe Sylvain would reciprocate his feelings and that he would end up being rejected, and possibly losing Sylvain's friendship.
> 
> Q: Did Dorothea ever get that shoulder rub from Petra?  
A: Yes, and Petra was kind enough not to tell Dorothea "I told you so"
> 
> Q: Where was Byleth when she was late to class?  
A: Fishing. She caught a Fodlandy, and it was worth being late to class for it.


End file.
